Fear and Loathing

A member of the GOP recently said...

"Democrats want to use the criminal process against president Trump because they fundamentally fear him running in 2024, obtaining the republican nomination, and reasserting his time in the White House."

I saw one Twitter user, Stonekettle, answer quite appropriately...

"OR Maybe it's because he's a goddamn criminal."

Circa 2015, when asked about what real power was, candidate Trump said... 

“Real power is – I don’t even want to use the word – fear.” 

And that, at the end of the day, is what he inspires his devotees to do, to live unquestioningly by his example and try to spread fear.  He gave them a permit – a license to intimidate. This is why we have seen such an upswing in white supremacy, Nazis, domestic terrorism, intolerance of people of color & LGBTQ+ citizens. 

 People were given the go-ahead to let the darker natures of themselves out to that the darkness could see the light of day and spread like a cancer. Fear? Perhaps. Men do evil things. But there is good, too. “Fear” of what another Trump presidency would do to our citizenry, his cult, domestic terrorism, our sensibilities, our ability to reason for ourselves, reality, our constitution, the rise of an autocracy which replaces our republic, our very union through violence or seduction of those who cannot or will not think for themselves or treacherous souls who wish to scoop up some of that “power”. That is what scares me. 

We should all be terrified of these things. It is a testament to candidate Trump’s words that this manipulation has worked so well and so far. He inspires those who want to make others fear and by doing so elevates himself. This is how he has always been. Some contractors don’t get paid for their work – no problem, I’m too big to touch and those around me will be able to brow beat them down. I have bigger lawyers. I don’t pay my taxes – “I’m smart,” and my brain-dead minions will say out loud, “Trump is sticking it to the government!” I don’t win a legal election for the Presidency of these United States. “The election was stolen and I am going to march down to the Capitol and let them know that – who’s with me!”

- Real fear of being sued out of business because you can’t afford the lawyers that Trump can.

- Fear used as a tool to manipulate people into thinking not paying one’s taxes is the “smart” thing to do and – amazingly – the concept that “Trump is for the little guy!”

- Real fear of our democracy crumbling due to insurrectionists defiling the Capitol & fear as a tool of manipulation to control a mob just waiting to be told what to think – what to do next.

Yes, fear has been used quite effectively by Trump. There are two all too real quotes from two fictional characters that come to mind. Simply because a character is not “real” does not negate that power of their words, the power of myth – the power of story…

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” – Master Yoda

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over and through me. And when it is past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. When the fear is gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” – Bene Gesserit teaching, the Litany Against Fear

Fear is a natural emotion and like any emotion it is up to us to determine if we have the emotions or if our emotions have us. Fear easily leads to anger, hate, and suffering. We must be mindful of not only the fear in ourselves but also the fear in others for we do not know where they are on the scale; is their fear passive or active or rather, is the outside world affecting them or are they affecting the outside world? Has anger and hate brought suffering? Were you the recipient of the suffering or the one who caused it? Emotions can lead us to be motivated and manipulated. We must, as the Litany Against Fear states in its mantra-like way, make a foothold against fear so that we are not swept away by it. So that we face it with our minds instead of being obliterated by the emotion itself.

So, back to point. Rule by fear is what tyrants and dictators do. Trump is still - even after losing a legal election - a wannabe tyrant and dictator. Those who do not see this and support him are either easily manipulated or are people who want to be the tormentors or oppressors themselves – to scoop up those little bits of power wherever they can find them. That is the character of today’s Trump supporter – from those in high places to the hundredaires who defend the billionaires with their Trump flags-a-flyin’. Fear brought them to where they are now and power by fear is that little thrill that they need to keep feeding – from the low to the high. 

I don’t buy into what they are selling. Those who pedal in fear are usually very afraid and emotional themselves. They will call you a “snowflake” or accuse you of being, "triggered" whenever you say anything against their regime or their perceived power. They crumble when faced with logic or reason. As an effort to save face they will emotionally exclaim, “fake news!” or “Bengasi!” or “her emails!”, still to this day. As a squid releases ink to escape a predator a Trump supporter will start spewing agitprop when confronted with reality. They do so in fear. They do not like it when the predator becomes the prey.

I wouldn’t mind if their ideals and goals didn’t mean the fall of decency, our republic, and democracy but here we are.

Until such time that critical thinking returns to a populous that chooses to use reason and reality as a base of operations, I will keep the Litany Against Fear close at hand. I will fight against tyranny, fascism, and ignorance of fear with the meager tools at my disposal – my voice and my keyboard. 

I will support the oppressed and not the oppressor. 

I will be part of the future and not a slave to the past. 

I will try to make things better not simply for myself but for my/our children and my/our children’s children.

We need more kindness than we need brutality. This is how you fight fear and tyranny. One must “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” Deeds, not words. I don’t have to change the world, I need to live a life that inspires by example, that builds people, ideas, and concepts up instead of tearing them down, a life that was worthy of being remembered for more of the good and less of the bad. Robert Louis Stevenson said, "Every heart that has beat strongly and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world and bettered the tradition of mankind." At the end of the day that is my desire.

Fear happens. It is part of being human. It is what we do with that fear that defines us. Who do we want to be? 

I choose the light.

I choose to let the fear pass through me.

We have a serious battle ahead of us in the 2022 mid-term elections.  The GOP must not take control of either the House or the Senate.  They have taken major steps to ensure that their proto-autocracy grows akin to a cancer.  They are doing so through voter suppression laws and through gerrymandering.  They do not wish to live in a representative republic or a democracy - they only crave power and they have stacked the deck in their favor by exploiting voting laws in individual states.  The Supreme Court of the United States has already said that they will not hear any case on gerrymandering, placing the onus on the states themselves to be fair.  This is giving the wolfs the key to the hen house and, rest assured, the republicans will carve up districts that do not represent the people but will only represent their lust for power.  What is happening is disgusting, corrupt, and - literally - un-American.  Our vote is our voice and they want us silenced.  

During the last administration, decency, reason, reality were all sacrificed to the object of their worship or for most of them, a means to an end.  That's what Trump was to the career republicans in the House and Senate.  It did not matter how low everything sank, how close to fascism we came, or even when their very lives were threatened on January 6th during the insurrection of the Capitol - as long as they remain in power they don't care who the next republican demagogue is in the oval office.  Presidents come and go but a gig in the Senate can be lifelong.  

Yes, term limits should be a thing, too.

Fear is healthy.  It is natural.  But it is what we do with that fear that makes or breaks us.  Now, we must prepare to VOTE come 2022 and that means getting people excited about voting in each and every election from schoolboards to sheriffs to fire chiefs, to representatives on a state lever, and to representatives on a federal level.

"Our vote is our voice."  

Use it now for there are those who want to take it away and they are known as republicans.